Larsen says British F4 podium has restored confidence at Zandvoort testing after Silverstone setback

Alba Larsen is hoping that her maiden British F4 podium can help revitalise her season after a strong showing on the opening day of F1 ACADEMY in-season testing at Zandvoort.

Clocking in a 1:37.392, the Ferrari driver secured the second-fastest time of the morning and the third-best time overall — 0.246s slower than Day 1 leader Alisha Palmowski.

This comes off the back of a mixed fortnight for Larsen, who experienced a difficult trip to Silverstone with only a single point to show for her efforts. By contrast, last weekend saw her score her first British F4 podium, taking a P2 finish in the reverse grid Race 2, becoming the third full-time F1 ACADEMY driver to do so after Abbi Pulling and Ella Lloyd.

Pleased to have already hit the ground running at testing, Larsen said her priority was to find the same feel behind the wheel as she adjusted to the shift in machinery.

“It's great to be back in a car,” she began. “Obviously, I'm just getting used to the difference between the British F4 car and this car now that I've been jumping back and forth between the two different cars.

“Driving on the track like four days ago gives me a lot of confidence in terms of I know the track and how the track is right now at the moment. A lot of us drove here last year and some have driven it before, so I think everyone knows the track but driving right on it is good going into the test. I was very confident from the start of the test. I was very quick from the beginning of the run in the morning.”

Larsen continued: “It’s been a really, really great weekend. It has definitely boosted my confidence, especially after a weekend like in Silverstone which was not the result we wanted. Getting a good result in British F4, which is a super hard championship as well, has boosted my confidence a lot.

“It was super fun. We had quite a few Safety Cars, but without that I felt like I had the pace to win. I'm very happy about the podium, but I was in P2 for most of the race and felt like I had the pace for more. It just gave me a lot of confidence in terms of the pace we have.”

READ MORE: Palmowski tops the times on opening day of Zandvoort in-season test

Larsen’s first Sector was the second-fastest in the morning but was fifth and four overall for the other two Sectors, making her quickest time almost a tenth slower than her theoretical best.

Admitting that she and MP Motorsport still have a bit of pace to unlock, the Dane said her target is to string together a more cohesive lap.

“We have saved a set of tyres for tomorrow so we’ll try and get some good lap times in,” explained Larsen. “Today has just been working on getting the balance between the British F4 car and this car and working on the differences. It looked like we had quite a strong Sector 1 and Sector 3, but we’ll keep working on Sector 2 where we were losing a bit of time.”